CULTURE

Sri Lanka is a country of many festivals and religious celebrations so we invite guests to join us in the festivities as we celebrate – light the lamps on the morning of Avurudu, the Sri Lankan New Year in April, or help us make lanterns for the Vesak celebrations in May.  Attend a local puja (religious celebration) in a kovil in one of the small villages and receive a blessing by the priest. Our staff will be on hand to explain the meaning of the various rituals that take place. 

Slightly further afield a 35 minute drive is magnificent Buduruwagala, which means “the rock of Buddhist Sculptures”, and is the name given to a group of seven carvings that can be found on the site of an ancient Buddhist temple. The rock cut Buddhas are colossal are the largest standing Buddhas in Sri Lanka  – the biggest is over 16 metres high – and date back to the 9^th and 10th centuries, which makes it even more remarkable how intact they are.